This invention relates in general to a device for holding a board, and more particularly to a martial arts device for rigidly holding one or more boards to receive a karate blow or the like.
The standardized karate board is a white pine wood board that is nominally about 12 inches by 12 inches by 1 inch thick. The board is supported on opposite parallel sides with the wood grain running parallel to the sides that are held. Often in the practice of the martial arts it is desired to break boards with kicks and other blows. Typically, such boards must be rigidly held along their marginal edges either by the hands of a person other than the one breaking the board, or by a board holding device.
In the face of sharp blows, it is difficult to hold the boards rigidly by hand, especially at any angle other than that where the face of the board is vertical. It is also difficult to hold boards rigidly by hand at different heights within a wide range of possible heights. Moreover, although it is sometimes desired to break a group of boards stacked together, it is difficult to hold more than a very few boards at one time because the cumulative thickness renders the stack of boards difficult to grip firmly.
Manually holding the stack of boards can result in injury to the persons holding the boards as a result of one or more factors, such as the inaccuracy of the practitioner, the shattering of the boards upon being struck, fingers of the holding persons on the striking surface of the board, broken boards twisting or slipping out of the holder's grasps, etc. In addition, the skin of the hands may be pinched between the boards, or the holder may be injured by the forcefully moving hand, arm, foot or head of the striker, or by flying pieces of the broken board, or by the force of impact itself.
Mechanical holders for a stack of karate boards that are adapted for mounting on a floor, wall or post have also been suggested. For example, a board holder with hand grips is marketed by Black Belt Products, Inc. as the "Break Master." The device consists of two separate handgrips that are adapted for attachment to the edges of the board, so that it is no longer necessary to hold the board directly in order to resist the impact of a blow. The device can be strapped to a bag or mounted to a wall.
Such mechanical holders are limited as to the orientation at which the practitioner can strike the boards. Also, such mechanical holders usually have metal parts extending in front of and/or alongside the stack that may injure the practitioner should he miss the center of the stack and strike the part. In addition, such mechanical holders are limited as to the number of boards that can be struck. The danger of injury increases with the number of boards that are held, since greater and greater force and accuracy are required to break more and more boards. Finally, such mechanical holders do not allow the practitioner to easily adjust the height of the holder to the desired height.
Nevertheless, it is still preferred by practitioners to strike the boards with either horizontal movement or vertical movement. Further, it is preferred that the kicks and other blows be delivered at a wide variety of heights. Thus, it is desirable that the boards be able to be held at various heights for reception of either horizontal or vertical strikes.